Violent crime in London up by a quarter, official figures show

Violent attacks in London have risen by a quarter over the past year, official figures have revealed.

Crime data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that instances of violence against the person, which includes murder and violence with or without injury, have rise by 26 per cent.

Sexual offences in the capital also rose by 31 per cent in the period from March 2014 to March 2015.

Overall, crime in London increased by 1 per cent, but there were decreases in robberies, theft from a person offences, burglaries, and drug offences.

Across England and Wales, knife crime rose for the first time in four years.

Police recorded 26,370 offences in 2014/15, up from 25,974 the previous year - bucking a downward trend since 2010/11.

The data showed that possession of knife offences increased by ten per cent, sexual assaults with knives rose by 28 per cent, and knife assaults went up by 13 pent, but robberies with knives dropped by 14 per cent.

In London alone there were 9,627 crimes involving knives, including 67 attempted murders and 122 sexual assaults.

The Office for National Statistics said the increase was unlikely to be due to changes in police recording practices.

Nationally, crime increased by 3 per cent, with sexual offences and violence against the person seeing the biggest rises.

The separate Crime Survey for England and Wales, which interviews people about their experiences of crime, whether or not they have gone to the police, said that crime had fallen by 7 per cent.

It suggested crime was at its lowest level since 1981, estimating that there were 6.8 million crimes in 2014/15.

Responding to the figures, the National Police Chiefs' Council Lead for Crime Recording, Chief Constable Jeff Farrar, said: “We are encouraged to see crime continuing to fall, police recording of crime becoming more accurate and victims more willing to report crime to the police.

“A significant contributory factor to the increase in recorded crime is the 30 per cent increase in records of violence without injury, and 37 per cent rise in records of sexual offences.

"NPCC analysis with police forces suggests that increases are as a result of improved recording practices and greater victim confidence to report and do not indicate a marked rise in offending.

“The crime reported in this survey only accounts for 22 per cent of incoming calls to the police. A huge amount of work goes into areas such as complex public protection issues, cyber-crime and counter-terrorism - where the offences and their outcomes are not so easily recorded.

"Chief constables across the country are looking at ways to ensure that we can continue to meet the ever-changing demand that the service faces.”